Why No Action Against Erring Miners ?
The nexus between the miners, police and our politicians is again exposed as an innocent man lost his life under the wheels of a mining truck. It’s shocking to know that the police instead of apprehending the culprit were trying to get rid of the evidence of the gruesome act in a hurry, a direct responsibility of the mine owner and to put it under the carpet our Aam Aadmi Chief Minister promises 2 lakh compensation for the deceased family and says nothing about action against the perpetrator of this crime. If the Chief Minister cannot give us justice he is not fit to remain in office, he should resign. How many more lives will be lost before justice sees daylight ? Our Chief Minister has valued a Goan life at two lakhs, is his and the lives of other members of his family worth the same ? Kill a person and pay two lakhs is the message our CM is sending out. Apart from being the Chief Minister, he is also the minister for mines; he should be the one to initiate action against the erring miners and their subsidiaries. How long will the compensation sustain the bereaved family ? Can money really replace life ? There is no doubt that compensation helps the bereaved family but it should be a lot more, on the other hand why should the tax payers money be used to compensate for the negligence of the mining community ? The compensation should come from the mining community itself and should be nothing less than 30 to 35 lakhs for fatality or permanent disabilities. The erring miners and their subsidiaries should not be let off so easily for such utter and deliberate negligence. This is not the first incident that mining trucks have taken a life, people in the mining belt have been agitating against the adverse effects of mining, including rash driving, for a long time and every time such an incident occurs, the police and our political Babus have been siding with the miners and promising that such incidents will not occur again, but like all their other promises, they are laid waste and forgotten till the next such incident occurs, and the same old story repeats itself. As recorded in the Vidhan Sabha, most of Goa’s politicians benefit from mining, legal or illegal, one way or the other and it’s amply clear that our police and politicians do not want to take any action against the mining fraternity for obvious reasons and to make it worse, the people fighting against the atrocities in mining areas are harassed, targeted and even labeled as naxallites. How long will we Goans allow this to carry on ? How long will it be before we realize that the present government is not the government of the Aam Aadmi ? How long will it be before we Goans wise-up to the fact that we Goans are being taken for a jolly good ride by our politicians ? No doubt these incidents have forced us into creating a mood viciously hostile towards the political and social administration. It is indeed time to pause and focus our pent-up anger in the right direction. It is imperative that we unite with all our recourses and wage a full-scale war against the anti Goan administration and their flag bearers. Goans have suffered for too long in silence it’s now time to be more vocal and aggressive. It’s time we stood by, in solidarity with our aggrieved Goan brothers and sisters. Freddy Agnelo Fernandes
